W. HOCKEY | Yale’s winless streak continues

The women’s hockey team never beat Dartmouth or Harvard last year, and the Elis were unable to break that trend over the weekend.

Yale (0–1–1 ECAC) remained winless as they fell to Dartmouth (2–0–0 ECAC) 4–1, and tied No. 9 Harvard (1–0–1 ECAC) 3–3, in their first competition against ECAC opponents.

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The Bulldogs ventured to Cambridge on Friday in the Crimsons’ season opener. Two early power play goals kept the Elis in the game after veteran goalie Jackee Snikeris ’11 was injured after hyper-extending her heel just eight minutes into the game.

“I’m not sure exactly what happened,” Snikeris said of her injury. “It was a two-on-one play; one of the other girls came down on me, I think one of our own players ran into my heel.”

Snikeris said she is unsure how long she will be out, and is scheduled to have an MRI this week.

The game started well for Yale as Jackie Raines ’14 scored at 12:33 in the first with an assist from Bray Ketchum ’11. After Erin Callahan ’13 replaced Snikeris, the Crimson quickly tied with Katherine Chute’s goal two minutes later.

Assisted by fellow freshman Aurora Kennedy, Jennifer Lawrence ’14 scored at 17:25 to give Yale a 2–1 lead. Yale was unable to score during a five-minute major penalty or hold onto the lead, with Harvard’s tri-captain Liza Ryabkina scoring during a 5-on-3 play late in the second period.

The Elis regained the lead halfway through the third as Alyssa Zupon ’13 scored a loose puck goal, the first goal by a non-freshman this season.

“[Freshman scoring most goals] doesn’t reflect so much on the seniors as it does on the freshmen,” Patricia McGauley ’14 said. “Scoring is really a team effort. The upperclassmen all work really hard, and the freshmen are only able to score because of them setting up good scoring opportunities.”

After Zupon’s goal, Harvard fought back, tying the game at 3–3 off Ryabkina’s second goal with only 14 seconds left in regulation. Despite an early Harvard power play, the Bulldogs kept the Crimson from scoring in overtime. Callahan stopped an additional four shots, bringing her total to 25 stopped shots.

“[Callahan] played great. It’s a hard position to be in, playing your first game of the season against one of the top teams in the country,” said head coach Joakim Flygh.

Snikeris was also impressed with Callahan’s performance in her season debut, holding the nationally ninth ranked Crimson to three goals. Previously, Callahan had played only 20 minutes in a match against Sacred Heart last season.

“Erin stepped in and she played unbelievably, everyone saw that,” Snikeris said. “I was really happy for her, the whole team was. She played so well, I wish we could have pulled out a win.”

Until Ryabkina scored with less than a minute in the third, it looked like the Bulldogs were poised for their first victory.

“We got really close to winning, so it was a little bit heartbreaking,” Flygh said of the outcome. “I thought we deserved to win because we worked so hard. But Harvard is a very good team. The way we played was definitely a step in the right direction.”

Yale continued their northern road trip against the Big Green the next day. Dartmouth was relentless in the first period, scoring two points and outshooting the Bulldogs 20–4.

Dartmouth’s Lauren Kelly was able to get past Callahan twice, scoring first from five feet inside the blueline. With only two seconds left in the period, Kelly scored again with an assist from Camille Dumais.

“The first period against Dartmouth was the worst we’ve played so far,” Flygh said. “I think we were emotionally and physically spent after Harvard.”

The second period saw the Elis fall behind 3–0 after the Big Green’s Amanda Trunzo scored her first goal of the season. Heather Grant ’12 scored Yale’s only goal at 6:25, after goalie Lindsay Holdcroft left the net unattended, thinking Yale was about to be called for a penalty.

Moira Scanlon scored a goal with 3:34 left on the clock, bringing the final tally to 4–1. Overall, Dartmouth outshot the Elis 38–13.

“This was a weekend of highs and lows,” Flygh said. “We need to work on being able to play back to back games. But the potential is there.”